Darius the Great Is Not Okay

Sohrab is an Iranian boy approximately the same age as Darius. He lives close to Darius’s grandparents in Yazd, helping Babou with his gardening and running errands for Mamou. Sohrab and his mother Mahvash are Bahá'í—a persecuted religious minority in Iran—and his father has been imprisoned for many years partly as a result of his faith; late in the novel, the Rezaei family learns that Sohrab’s father has been murdered in Tehran’s Evin Prison.

Darius describes Sohrab as “compact and lean” with short black hair and “the most elegant Persian nose of anyone [he] had ever met” (86). He is outgoing, affectionate, and demonstrative, and often smiles so broadly that he looks as though he’s squinting; to Darius, it seems as though “there [are] no walls inside him” (220). As it turns out, this isn’t true; Sohrab feels excluded by many of his peers as a result of his faith, and pressured to care for his mother in his father’s absence. The shared experience of being an outsider is part of what causes Sohrab to bond with Darius so quickly, and the friendship proves beneficial to both boys, helping Darius to open up while allowing Sohrab to relax and have fun with someone his own age (Sohrab is an avid and skilled soccer player, and reintroduces Darius to the sport). The two have a brief falling out in the aftermath of Sohrab’s father’s death—though normally patient and compassionate, Sohrab loses his temper and lashes out at Darius in his grief—but they soon make up and remain in correspondence after Darius returns to the US.

Stephen is Darius and Laleh’s father, and the husband of Shirin. Darius jokingly refers to him as “Teutonic” and an “Übermensch” (19), in part because of his quintessentially Northern-European appearance: He has “very short, very straight, very blond hair, and […] very blue eyes too” (13). However, it’s also a commentary on Stephen’s personality, which Darius views as exacting and hypercritical; he often makes comments implying that Darius should eat healthier, be more assertive, and try to fit in more. Further exacerbating matters is the fact that Stephen, unlike Darius, seems to effortlessly succeed at everything he does. Not only is he a partner at an architectural firm, but he easily picks up on and enjoys elements of Iranian culture that Darius finds confusing (e.g., Rook). He also seems to have his own depression more under control than Darius: “Stephen Kellner had been managing his depression so long he couldn’t remember what it was like. Or maybe he’d never had Mood Slingshot Maneuvers in the first place. Maybe his medication had recalibrated his brain right away, and he was back to being a high-functioning Übermensch in no time” (33-34).

Darius’s perceptions of his father turn out to be misguided, however. To the extent that Stephen has pressured his son to be “more normal” (191), he’s done so out of concern for his well-being and admits that he went about it the wrong way. His concerns also reflect that his own mental health isn’t as well-managed as Darius believes; in fact, he was suicidal when Darius was younger, and the guilt he feels for having withdrawn from his family and passed on his depression to Darius makes him uncertain of how to interact with his son. Their relationship becomes much healthier after Stephen opens up about this, and as the novel ends, he’s making a concerted effort to show more interest in and support for Darius. 

Shirin is Darius and Laleh’s mother, Stephen’s wife, and Mamou and Babou’s daughter. Shirin was born and raised in Iran to a Zoroastrian family (the Bahramis), but moved to the US and chose to stay after meeting and falling in love with Stephen; she now works as a UX designer and hasn’t visited Iran since before the birth of her children. She has dark, curly hair and dark eyes, and when Darius sees a photo of her as a teenager, he remarks that she “could have been a supermodel” (163).

Generally speaking, Darius’s relationship with his mother is better than his relationship with his father. Shirin is loving, accepting, and demonstrative, often playing with Darius’s curls and trying to cheer him up when he’s depressed; she also intervenes with her husband several times on Darius’s behalf, explaining how his actions are hurting Darius. Nevertheless, Darius does feel some resentment towards her for teaching his younger sister to speak Farsi but not Darius. This is something Shirin apologizes for, explaining that she was struggling to feel at home in America at the time and didn’t want Darius to have the same problem: “When you were born I wanted you to grow up American. So you would feel like you belonged” (201). 

Laleh is Darius’s younger sister. She is in second grade and has her mother’s dark curly hair and her father’s blue eyes; she has also grown up bilingual, unlike her older brother. As a result, she quickly adapts to life in Iran, getting along particularly well with Babou, even as Darius is struggling to connect with his grandfather. A similar dynamic is at play back in America; Laleh is “way more popular” than Darius at school (16), with a generally bubbly and outgoing temperament. All of this causes Darius to feel jealous of her at times, but any resentment typically passes quickly. In fact, Darius deeply loves his little sister, even playing dolls and hosting tea parties with her, despite understanding that these aren’t the kinds of things teenage boys are “supposed” to do (16).

Ardeshir is Darius and Laleh’s grandfather, and Shirin’s mother. Darius describes him as having a “gravelly” voice with a thick Persian accent, “severe eyebrows,” a “mustache that quiver[s] when he [speaks],” and a “Picard Crescent” of receding, curly hair (47). As the novel opens, Ardeshir is newly diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, which is the impetus for the Kellners’ trip to Iran.

Ardeshir has a stern demeanor and is direct in his interactions with others. He is traditional in his views, telling Darius that he needs to “try harder” rather than relying on medication for depression (102). This combination of brusqueness and cultural conservatism initially leads Darius to believe that his grandfather disapproves of him, but the truth is more complex. For one, as Darius’s mother notes, Ardeshir is not as fluent in English as his wife and consequently finds it easier to talk freely with Laleh. More broadly, he is fearful that his faith and culture are disappearing, both within his own family and in the country at large; Ardeshir is Zoroastrian, but the Iranian government has banned the ancient practice of sky burials, and Shirin—as a woman—couldn’t pass her religion on to her children. The knowledge that his own time is limited exacerbates these anxieties, while the tumor itself makes him prone to mood swings and amnesia, all of which he finds humiliating. Shirin’s stories about Ardeshir as a father imply that he is a kind and loving man at heart, and Darius is occasionally surprised by his grandfather’s gestures of affection and concern (as when he hugs Darius goodbye). 

Fariba is Darius and Laleh’s grandmother. She is a short woman who wears peach-scented perfume and “pomegranate red” nail polish, and has, in Darius’s words, “the kindest eyes in the entire galaxy” (165). Although Darius has never met her in person before the novel begins, he quickly feels at home with her, thanks to her warm and maternal demeanor: “[W]hen she wrapped her arms around me, it was like she had fifteen years’ worth of hugs saved up just for me” (73). She works to cheer Darius up when he’s sad and generally to boost his self-confidence. Her kindness and her cooking also make her a favorite with the neighbors, including the Rezaeis, who spend major holidays with the Bahramis. Nevertheless, there are moments when the strain of dealing with her husband’s condition takes its toll on her; when Ardeshir loses his temper on Nowruz and storms off, Fariba doesn’t hesitate to follow and calm him down, but Darius notices that she’s crying as she does so.

Trent Bolger is one of Darius’s classmates at Chapel Hill High. Darius describes him as “disproportionately popular” given his average looks: “Trent was almost a head shorter than me, with close-cropped black hair, blocky black glasses, and a nose that turned up sharply at the end” (5). Unlike his friend Chip, Trent is also not a particularly good athlete, although he is on the JV football and wrestling teams. Trent’s popularity instead seems to lie largely in the fact that he’s a bully. Darius is one of his preferred targets, and his insults tend to be homophobic in nature. Privately, Darius thinks of Trent as “Fatty” Bolger, after the hobbit who “stays home in the Shire while Frodo and company go on their adventure,” making him “pretty much the most boring Hobbit ever” (6).